Box Mac-n-cheese Expiration Date?

tortoise

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DH found box mac-n-cheese on sale at the local grocery store. It expires next month. He bought a couple boxes for the kids. Turns out it has safe-for-me ingredients! No GI trouble after having a generous serving. What a treat!

I bought 2 cases. 48 boxes total for $16. :gig

I could use them before the best by date. But realistically, how much life do you think is in them?
 

Hinotori

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Best buy dates are a con to get you to toss perfectly good food and buy new. They aren't regulated except for baby formula.

I have airtight tubs that I put any boxed foods in to keep humidity out here. As long as I eat it in a year I'm good with it. I've eaten stuff several years old. In my experience it's the powder packets that go bad before the pasta. If they aren't all clumped beyond breaking up, or discolored they are usually fine.

Maybe I'm not the best judge because I grew up poor and Mom would get foods at the discount grocery in big quantities if they were cheap enough. Getting a years supply was normal.

Of course back in the 80s Dad would bring home C rations from the Army Depot he worked at if they came across a stash of them. So I can say Ive eaten food that's 40 years old.
 

frustratedearthmother

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I'd probably open all the boxes and dump the mac into glass jars. I'd use gallon jars probably. Shove all the cheese mixes, still in their packets, into another big glass container. If you can keep any bugs and moisture out of the pasta it'll last a really long time.
 

Britesea

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This quote gets stuck in my head more than I care to admit. Can we... get a video or tutorial of how to eat a chicken wing correctly?
LOL... No pictures, but I eat every bit of meat and cartilage on the wing- surprising how much there actually is. I spit out the bones one by one as I get the meat off of them. I used to crunch up the tiny bones too, but not so much now as I started wondering what those little bone splinters might be doing to my innards.
 

tortoise

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LOL... No pictures, but I eat every bit of meat and cartilage on the wing- surprising how much there actually is. I spit out the bones one by one as I get the meat off of them. I used to crunch up the tiny bones too, but not so much now as I started wondering what those little bone splinters might be doing to my innards.
:gig I'm relieved. Sometimes I would imagine someone darn near swallowing it whole. :gig

Your joints will thank you for all the cartilage you ate as a child 😍
 

tortoise

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The one food I remember reading about where you should pay attention to the expiration date is Cake Mixes; the baking powder used definitely has a finite shelf life, and the cake won't rise well.
This happened to us when I bought clearance cake mix for my kids to make their cakes to decorate for 4-H. I had boxes marked "add baking powder" for a while until I used them up :gig
 

Okiepan

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One would assume if you repackage the pasta in a vacuum sealed bag as well as the cheese ( powder type ) it possibly could last the 25 yrs like it's Freeze Dried cousin.
As long as the items are stored correctly it should work out just fine .
 

frustratedearthmother

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Way back in the day, when I was a child (forEVER ago) when we would go camping my mother would make this "stuff." She'd cook a box of mac and cheese, then dump in a can of chili, and a can of mushroom soup and mix it up and call it "camping casserole." I'm trying to remember if it had a can of tomato soup in it. Seriously can't remember. But, we scarfed that stuff up.
 
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